Kalyan A 31-years-old man was convicted and sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment by a Kalyan Court on Saturday in a rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) case registered in 2015 at the Shivajinagar police station in Ambernath.
The convict, Dharmanath Rai was arrested for repeatedly raping a minor residing in his neighbourhood. The girl who was 14-years-old was living with her parents and a brother. The family members of the girl worked as daily wage labourers in the Ambernath area. The girl’s brother worked for the convict in the transport business and was also his friend.
Additional Public Prosecutors Ashwini B Patil-Bhamre and Kadambini Khandagale fought the case before the court. Khandagale said, “The convict knew the work timings of the girl’s family and therefore he forcefully entered the house several times and threatened to trouble her brother and family member if she didn’t cooperate. He raped her several times. The girl got pregnant and had to deliver the baby. She had to go through delivery at the age of 14 and was living in fear of society.”
The District and Additional Sessions Judge in the Atrocities Special Case, PR Ashturkar, in his order also fined the convict Rs.30,000 after finding him guilty of the charges of rape and under the POCSO Act and sent him to rigorous imprisonment for 20 years.
The prosecution provided medical reports, nine witnesses as per POCSO act, while the judge noted that all points have been proved as per the evidence produced before the court. The convict was aged 24 years at the time of incident. He was arrested immediately and case was investigated by PSI Somnath Jadhav and court constable Nandakumar Kadam had collected all documents. The convict has been behind bars for last seven years.